“Platonism and Christianity”
“Benedict’s Teaching for Dark Ages, His and Ours”
While Roman civilization collapsed around him, Benedict a fifth-century monk and abbot authored his Rule for monks and set forth a way of life for the monasteries that would become one of the few lights of wisdom and civility in an age of increasing darkness and social isolation. Benedict taught those who lived in these dark ages how to make their daily lives an integrated whole of prayer and work, enlightened by the wisdom of Christ. In this respect, his Rule contains many lessons that apply to Christians in contemporary life.
Monastery Visit and Lecture on “St. John Cassian, Monasticism, and the Kingdom of God”
Registration Required. RSVP to info@lumenchristi.org. About the Lecture: John Cassian, a monk with broad experience of Greek, Latin and Coptic monasticism, wrote his most important works, The Institutes and The Conferences to assist the Pope in establishing the monastic tradition of the Desert Fathers in fifth-century Europe. Since Cassian maintains that the monastic life is simply the life of the apostolic church, his insights are relevant for all Christians. This talk unfolds Cassian’s spirituality and the practices required of anyone who seeks the purity of heart that leads towards the realization of the Kingdom of God both in the interior life and in the social realm. About the Monastery: The Monastery…
“Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought,” Non-Credit Course
Informal Dinner: 6:00PM Lecture: 6:30PM Intended for University students, faculty, and recent graduates. Others interested in attending, contact info@lumenchristi.org. With the recovery of the works of Aristotle in the Latin West, the development of the scholastic method of reasoning, and the creation of the universities, a style of academic philosophy and theology developed in the late medieval period in which the practice of reasoning about Christian revelation was developed independent of spirituality and, often, the search for wisdom. Previously, in the works of the Church Fathers and the great monastic writers, theology was rooted in a spiritual life uniting prayer and…
“Benedict XVI on the Liturgy”
Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) has long cherished Catholic liturgy, and his writings on the subject illuminate the man as well as the meaning of Christian ritual. This talk is intended as an introduction to the concept of liturgy as understood by Catholics and of the contributions Ratzinger-both as theologian and as worshiper-has made to its authentic development and reception within the Church. This event is intended for University students. An informal dinner will be served. Please contact mfranzen@lumenchristi.org with any questions.
Sacred Study Circle, Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales
Sacred study is the prayerful and attentive reading of a work with the initial goal of understanding it, the intermediate goal of reflectively appropriating it, and the final goal of making its teaching concrete in a life devoted to God. Sacred study is study because it puts questions to the text, as an apprentice questions the master, so as to come to grips with the deeper meanings. With these aims we will study St. Francis de Sales’s Introduction to the Devout Life this winter quarter. In this classic work of spirituality the reader is presented with counsels and practices to aid him…
Book Symposium on “Francis of Assisi: A New Biography
Cosponsored by the Department of History and the Medieval Studies Workshop with Augustine Thompson, O.P., Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley Karen Scott, DePaul University Lawrence Cunningham, University of Notre Dame In this authoritative and engaging new biography, Augustine Thompson, O.P., sifts through the surviving evidence for the life of Francis using modern historical methods. The result is a complex yet sympathetic portrait of the man and the saint. Francis emerges from this account as very much a typical thirteenth-century Italian layman, but one who, when faced with unexpected crises in his personal life, made decisions so radical that they…
“Francis of Assisi: Lost Between Myth and History”
Cosponsored by the Department of History and the Medieval Studies Workshop Among the most beloved of saints, Francis of Assisi is celebrated for his dedication to poverty, his love of nature, and his desire to follow perfectly the teachings and example of Christ. His followers compiled numerous, often legendary, accounts. The man and his own concerns seem lost to view. Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P. will speak on the “Quest for the Historical Francis” and attempt to portray beyond the legends the man who was Francis of Assisi.
Master Class on St. Francis of Assisi: “How to Write a Biography of a Medieval Saint”
Cosponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop In his new book, Francis of Assisi: A New Biography, Augustine Thompson, O.P., sifts through the surviving evidence for the life of Francis using modern historical methods. The Francis who emerges here is both more complex and more conflicted than that of older biographies. This one-day master class will consider whether the historical Francis can be recovered from countless modern and medieval appropriations and compare Fr. Thompson’s biography on Francis’s early life with a variety of biographical sources. Among the most beloved saints in the Catholic tradition, Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) is popularly remembered…
Monastery Visit and Talk on “Spirituality and the Liturgy”
Intended for University Students. Transportation from Hyde Park will be provided. Registration required as space is limited. SCHEDULE: 4:00 Depart from Hyde Park. 4:30 Talk on Spirituality and the Liturgy by Fr. Peter Funk, OSB. 5:15 Chanted Office of Vespers. 5:40 Silent Prayer. 6:00 Dinner. 6:30 Discussion and Questions. 7:15 Chanted Office of Compline. 8:00 Arrival back in Hyde Park. A link to the monastery website can be found here. Click here to watch a short documentary about life in the Monastery.